The Enforcers (Previously 'Dark Wolf')
by TheSilverboar
Summary: What if Kirito was able to complete a quest in the Beta that let him keep his level, skills, and a few other things when he started the game for real? How would this affect the story? Are you willing to look past this horrible summary to the hopefully not horrible story inside? Rated M just to be safe (like most of my stories)
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Alright, the title for this is a work in progress so any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.**

**AN2: Everything I know about SAO comes from the Anime and what I can find on SAO wiki pages so if there is a person out there who had read the manga and is willing to give me a hand when needed, it would be greatly appreciated. **

Dark Wolf

Chapter 1

-Kirito-

"Link Start!" he called out eagerly, wanting to enter the realm of Aincrad again as his vision went white with streak of color shooting towards him, or maybe he was shooting towards them? Soon he saw a round symbol with the word touch, followed by identical circles with the words sight, hearing, taste, and smell as the nerve gear connected to his senses. He quickly selected 'Japanese' as the Language for everything to be displayed and heard in for him before finally getting to the log in screen as he put in his username and password.

Looking at the screen that floated in front of him he saw two options.

Beta-Character (Normal): Physical appearance and name shall remain as they were in the Beta but the players level and stats will be reset to beginner levels, any and all items and Col in their Inventory will be removed, and any unique or extra skills deleted.

Beta-Character (Advanced): Physical appearance and name shall remain as they were in the Beta as well as the characters level and stats. The play is allowed to keep one item from their inventory and half of their Col along with the starting amount. Any unique or extra skills gained will remain the same as they were in the Beta. NOTE: only accessible if the quest 'Secret of the Dark Tower' was completed.

Grinning he selected the advanced option as well as his Queen's Knightsword which was plus twenty along with its normal damage and its ability to have a decaying effect on the durability of the weapons and armor of his opponents **(AN: Note I'm not sure if this is the ability the sword had in the actual anime or manga as I couldn't find it ANYWHERE, and I did look, but I saw the idea on a fanfiction called "Alpha, not Beta" by Kandescent Shades-13 so shout out to them)**.

The quest 'Secret of the Dark Tower' had been the hardest quest he had done in the Beta and for a very good reason. Kayaba had anticipated the Beta testers wanting to be allowed to keep their stats and skills from the beta when the official game came out so the creator of SAO had put together a quest to test them. When there was only a week left in the Beta Kayaba opened the quest and told every Beta about it and the rules involved which were:

Solo players only, no guild groups or parties allowed for the quest

If you die doing the quest then your Beta test was over and your account would not allow you to log back until you got the official game

Once you entered the tower for the quest you couldn't leave

Any attempts to PK another player inside the tower would result in your character dying

Healing crystals and potions are not allowed inside the tower

The quest involved the player having to solve twenty different floors, each floor consisting of a puzzle or riddle, followed by a swarm of monsters. Of the thousand Beta testers three hundred had already decided to not buy the full version, four hundred had decided they wanted to start over with a completely new character, while the remaining three hundred, including himself, undertook the quest. A hundred and twelve died in the first five floors, not being able to solve the logic puzzles quickly enough which released the monsters before they could heal enough. One hundred and thirty eight died over the next ten floors for the same reasons while the remaining fifty dwindled down until only himself and seven other players remained at the twentieth level which he was the only one to solve. After completing the quest he still had a few hours left in the Beta so he went to the highest level town he could find and sold everything he had except for his Queen's Knightsword to have as much col as possible, the rules for the level transfer having been explained after beating the quest.

Now though he was finally going back to the world of SAO, where he was truly free. His vision turned grey as the worlds 'welcome to sword art online' swam before his eyes that faded away and turned into blue and white streaks of light that seemed to arc with lightning that shattered around him as he breathed in the air of SAO once again.

Quickly he took off through the arches of the plaza he spawned in and entered the market, watching the other thousands of players trying to decide what to buy with their starting col and who to party with. Unlike them though he already had eight skills slots with skills that were a decent level, having the starting three as well as the extras he gained every five levels with the last slot being two levels ago. Weaving his way through the crowds with a practiced ease he went to a vendor he knew sold quality items, the NPC vendors having variants with some focusing more on price, some on quality, some trying to balance, and a rare few having both. He bought a set of senbon throwing needles from the weapons vendor as well as a belt to store them and other items in along with a few throwing knives before heading to an NPC tailor and bought an outfit close to what he wore in the Beta, a black trench coat over a black t-shirt, with black jeans and black combat boots…so he liked the color black, sue him. His last stop was a general supplies store where he bought a rope, a shovel, some wire and a few other items for trap making.

Quickly running out of the side gate he jogged in the direction of the west field, wanting to get a good feel for the battle system again before going for real challenges, before hearing a voice call out behind him "Hey, wait up!". Turning around he saw a teenager with reddish pink hair, a scarlet and gold bandana, and the starting outfit with the leather chest armor. When the read head managed to catch up, albeit doubled over and panting, his follower stated "You seem to know your way around here, you were in the beta test, weren't you?".

"Uh…yeah." He said somewhat surprised, before realizing that he was wearing an outfit that was completely different from everyone else's, had a unique sword on his back, and had run through the market like he owned the place…not exactly newbie behavior.

"Cool," the stranger remarked before looking somewhat sheepish "listen the name's Klein and I was hoping you could give me a few tips to get me started here on the lower floors. I haven't used Nerve gear before and I don't understand the system yet.".

"I don't know," he said cautiously, not sure exactly how much help 'Klein' was wanting or if the guy just wanted to mooch and try to get his rare items.

"I don't want much," Klein panicked, probably having figured out his hesitation "I just wanted some help getting the battle system explained and maybe a few tips on shops and stuff like that if you're willing.".

Sighing in amused exasperation he smirked and said "Fine, the names Kirito.".

-West Field-

-Five minutes later-

He watched as Klein, his new 'apprentice' got launched back by a boar giving a full charge and slamming the guy between the legs, sending Klein flying with a yell of shock and, imagined, pain before the red head began rolling on the ground, clutching himself between the legs and groaning in pain.

"Oh come on, seriously?" he deadpanned "You can't feel any pain.".

Like a switch Klein stopped groaning and got to his feet "Oh yeah, you're right." Klein said sheepishly "Sorry, habit.".

Shaking away his thoughts about how he could have a habit from getting kicked there, some things were better left unknown, lectured "Remember what I said? The first move is the most important.".

"Yeah that's easy for you to say," Klein groused "but the bloody walking piece of bacon just won't stand still.".

Shaking his head he plucked up a small rock from the ground and pulled his arm back, the stone taking on a sinister red glow "If you do your initial motion right, and activate a sword skill at the right time," he launched the stone with a hard throw striking the boar on the flank and dropped its HP down to the red, "the system pretty much guarantees you'll always hit your target.". As he finished the mini lecture he gave a mental sigh of relief that he hadn't one-shot the boar with the rock as he knew would have happened if he used one of his senbon or knives…or any sword skill besides the basic one he had. He didn't want to show off too badly what his level was.

"Initial…motion…" Klein muttered softly before the red head seemed to have a breakthrough as his stance changed and the teenager rested the curved blade on his shoulder, causing it to glow with a dull orange light before Klein lunged at the boar, taking out the rest of its health.

As the boar shattered a screen popped in front of each of them, showing the Experience gained, the Col gained, and the number of items dropped, twenty four, thirty, and two in this case. As Klein jumped around cheering, and trying out a few sword skills, he opened his menu to check on his skills which read:

One handed straight sword (286/1000)

Dual wielding (124/1000)

Thrown weapon (189/1000)

Battle healing (275/1000)

Parry (280/1000)

Hiding (204/1000)

Searching (205/1000)

Sprint (232/1000)

**(AN: I tried to make the skills as believable as possible based off what Kirito had in the Anime along with him being level 27 at the end of the Beta and the Beta testers only getting to the tenth floor)**

Quickly he swapped out Dual wielding for 'trap setting' as he wanted to keep that skill, one he had unlocked a couple of days before doing the Dark tower quest even if he wasn't sure how, a secret. Closing out the screen he looked up to see Klein still having his rather…enthusiastic celebration causing him to shake his head and say "Nice going," making the bouncing red head pause and grin before he continued "but that boar wasn't very challenging, it was about as weak as slimes are in other games.".

"Holy crap you've gotta be kidding!" Klein gapped at him "I thought that thing was a mid-level boss!".

Chuckling he said "Not even close." gesturing to the spawning boars across the field, taking amusement in Klein's clearly injured pride. Taking pity on the man he pulled out his new trap making supplies "I'm planning on working on my trap setting skill, how about I trap em and you slice em?".

In way of answer Klein flipped his sword up and shot him a wide grin that promised a lot of pain for the nearby boars.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hey everyone, I thought of a new title for this one as 'Dark Wolf' is only a temporary title. How does "The Enforcers" sound?**

Dark Wolf

Chapter 2

-Kirito-

Smiling softly, Kirito stood gazing over the virtual fields and lakes of the first floor of Aincrad, Klein sitting next to him and another player they had met sitting with her feet in the water "When I look around I can't believe it," Klein said, awe in his voice "We're in a game bro…and Sinon." The redhead added hastily when the blue haired girl shot him a look over her shoulder before smirking happily.

"Whoever made it's a genius," Klein continued "this thing's amazing. Makes me glad I was born when I was.".

"It's not _that _big a deal." He said, chuckling in amusement but remembering the awe he felt the first time he had used the nerve gear.

"Cut me some slack it's my first full dive." Klein groused but you could hear the smile in his voice.

"It is pretty amazing Kirito," the blue haired Sinon said with a smirk at them "just because you're mister super slayer doesn't' mean the rest of us aren't getting used to this.".

Rolling his eyes he picked up a pebble and used a sword skill to throw it into the water causing it to explode, soaking the girl and causing her to yelp and fall in as he and Klein laughed happily.

"Damn it ninja boy!" the blue haired beauty groused as she squeezed the water from her virtual hair "That wasn't funny…same goes for you Pervert.".

"Ah come on Hawk Eye," Klein grinned "don't be like that.".

They had met Sinon earlier when the girl was trying to escape back to the city after losing all of her senbon she had earlier from selling her starter sword and used up all the starting col. She had explained how she had been trying to build up her thrown weapon skill but hadn't realized how hard it would be to recover the weapons at her low level. Nodding in understanding he had explained about how using pebbles would work until she could return to the city to sell some loot and get more senbon or knives as she grinned and got as many rocks as she could before joining them on their hunt. The trio made a rather effective team as he would set up the trap, Sinon would use her thrown pebbles of doom to attract the boar's attention making them charge, and then once the pigs were inside the trap Klein would stab them to death.

They had been playing and grinding for a few hours before taking a break and enjoying the sunset like skies that the world showed. As they played Sinon had dubbed him 'Ninja Boy' due to his all black clothing and his senbon, which she had tried to pickpocket a couple times much to his amusement, and when Klein laughed she had said "You have no room to talk Pervert" before they had labeled her as 'Hawk Eye'.

"Anyway," he said amused "you guys feel like doing some more hunting?".

"You know it!" Klein cheered before doubling over "But the thing is…I'm really hungry." As if to agree the redhead's stomach let out a loud gurgle.

"Too bad the food here only satisfies your hunger virtually." He said with a shrug.

"Yeah no kidding," Klein said before smirking victoriously and giving him a thumbs up "That's why I ordered a Pizza for five thirty! This game can wait till I get my pizza on.".

Chuckling he watched as Sinon and Klein got to their feet "Well after this I was going to go meet up with some friends from another game, you guys want to friend em and tag along?" Klein asked hopefully.

Freezing up slightly he looked away, having gotten used to Klein and Sinon but still feeling rather uncomfortable with a lot of people. "No, it's cool if you don't want to. I can always introduce you guys later." Klein said with an easy going grin.".

"Yeah, sorry." He said feeling embarrassed "Thanks anyway.".

"Hey it's no problem," Klein assured him "if anything I should be thanking you for all the help you gave me and Hawk Eye over there and someday I'll pay you back…virtually that is." The ginger added with his now signature smirk and a thumbs up.

Chuckling softly he swatted his friend on the shoulder "You cheapskate." He joked as Sinon walked over and gave Klein a high five as the red haired swordsman stepped away to log out.

Just as he and Sinon began turning away though they heard Klein's dumbfounded voice "What the…where'd the log out button go?".

"What do you mean?" he asked walking over "It should be the bottom of the main…menu…" he trailed off as he saw that Klein's menu really didn't have a log out button, a quick check showed that his menu and even Sinon's had the same problem.

"This is bad," he said seriously "you can't log out any other way then the menu as the nerve gear intercepts all communications…the only way we're getting out of here is if the game masters shut down the servers forcing a group log out, they fix the bug, or someone comes along and removes our nerve gear on the outside.".

"Well I live alone." Klein said nervously at the last bit of info.

"Same here." Sinon added nervously.

"I have a mom and a sister," he said thinking "and I guess if I don't' come down by dinner they'll…" before he could finish Klein had rushed over and grabbed his shoulders, an insane look on his face.

"You have a sister?" Klein demanded "How old is she? Is she single? What's she like?".

"Uh, she's into sports, and hates games and totally not your type man," he said freaked out by Klein's fanatically behavior "she wouldn't date a gamer if he was the last guy on…".

"Who cares I wanna…" Klein interrupted before being interrupted himself…by Kirito kicking him in the balls.

After a couple seconds of groaning and holding the kicked area Klein froze and said "Oh yeah, getting kicked in the balls doesn't hurt." Making Sinon face palm.

Before he could respond to his perverted friend's idiocy they heard a deep bell toll as they were forcibly teleported in a flash of blue light to the town square as the trio immediately dropped into fighting stances as he drew his straight blade, Klein his curved sword, and Sinon…a rock…he really needed to get that girl some new weapons.

As they looked around and saw the rest of the players getting their bearings the bell stopped tolling and the others were asking what was going on before one of them pointed out the flashing red 'warning' icon in the sky that quickly spread into a dome covering the entire courtyard before blood seeped from between the spaces, crackling with lightning as it took shape.

"Well that isn't ominous at all." he sighed, knowing that this wasn't going to be good.

As the blood formed a red robed figure he heard people muttering in fear while others claimed that it was probably the opening ceremony "Welcome players," the figure stated happily "I welcome you…to my world.".

"Kayaba?" he asked confused.

"My name is Akihiko Kayaba," the now revealed creator of SAO stated proudly "and as of this moment, I am now in control of this world.". Ignoring the mutterings of the other players Kayaba continued, opening up his own menu "As I'm sure you've noticed there's an item missing from your menu…the logout button. Let me assure you this is not a defect in the game, I repeat this is not a defect. This is how Sword Art Online was designed to be.".

"Is he serious?" Klein breathed in horrified shock.

"You will not be able to log out of SAO, nor will anyone be able to remove the nerve gear from your head. If anyone attempts to do so a transmitter from inside the nerve gear will discharge a microwave signal into your skull, destroying your brain, and ending your life.".

At this point half of the assembled crowd fully believed the robed Kayaba and were horrified while the other half thought it was all a bluff or a prank as they tried to leave only to get knocked back inside by an invisible force field around the courtyard.

"This is bull…right Kirito?" Sinon asked nervously.

"No…"he said softly as several nearby people turned towards them "the Nerve gear works a lot like a microwave and if the system is overloaded what Kayaba said could easily happen. Cutting the power won't work either as the system has an internal battery.".

Kayaba's powerful voice drew every eye back to the floating figure "Despite my warnings to the public, several family and friends of various players have attempted to remove the nerve gear…an unfortunate decision to say the least. As a result, the game is already short two hundred and thirteen players, deleted from both Aincrad and the real world.".

As everyone looked around in horror Kayaba pulled up a few dozen screens that showed various news channels "News channels across the globe are covering the situation so the chances of this happening again are minimal at best, I hope this brings you a little comfort as you try to clear the game.". As the screens began disappearing the last one swung to face him…showing his Aunt comforting his cousin off their taped off house as his cousin sobbed…the woman he knew as his mother and the girl he saw as his little sister were hurt…they were in pain because of this monster.

"If you die in this game you will die in real life as the nerve gear destroys your brain," Kayaba continued unconcerned "and the only way to escape my world…is to defeat all one hundred levels and clear the game. Right now you are gathered on floor one, the lowest levels of Aincrad. If you defeat the boss on this floor you will gain access to the second floor. Defeat all one hundred bosses and you clear the game.". As everyone began panicking Kayaba added one last parting shot "I have also left a little present in every player's item storage.".

As Kayaba said this his menu opened on its own and pulled up his inventory before displaying a mirror that appeared in his hand without prompting before he was engulfed by a bright light as was everyone around him. As he regain his bearings he heard Klein's voice behind him "You alright Kirito?".

"Yeah," he said turning around "I'm…what the?" he said shocked as Klein had changed. The clothes and headband were still the same and the hair was still red but now it was a lot shorter and the face was different, not so different as to not recognize that it was Klein but clearly not the same as before.

"What's happening?" Sinon said panicking as he turned and saw that Sinon looked the same only with brown hair and eyes instead of her bright blue.

"He's showing our true faces," he said in shock "the nerve gear scans the face of the person who wears it…and when you use it for the first tie you have to do the calibration test…it was all to get the measurements to show our real bodies.". looking in his mirror confirmed it.

Despite himself he couldn't help but snort when he heard "Wait a minute you're not a girl!" followed by someone else shouting "You're not seventeen!", the first voice deep and the second one extremely weedy.

He barely paid attention to Kayaba's continued speech about doing this to control the fate of a world he had designed as Kayaba 'wished them luck' before fading away as panic ensued. Grabbing Klein and Sinon's shoulders he said "Klein, go grab your friends and meet us in West Field where we started training. Sinon, you're with me, I have to message a couple people.".

"On it." Klein said with a nod, taking his serious voice and expression to heart as panic ensued and they bolted before the mob could get to them, Klein turning away to grab his friends as he and Sinon ran, him typing a pair of message as he went.

About ten minutes after getting to the field Klein showed up with five other players. First was a massive man with a curly mop of black hair, second was a tall skinny guy with a rather pointed chin and spiked black hair, third was a guy with a dew rag, a scraggly brown beard and a rather stocky build, fourth was a weedy looking guy with brown hair, fifth was a rather young looking guy who didn't have a trace of facial hair and work a leather helmet. "Kirito these are Dale, Kunimittz, Dynamm, Issin, and Harry one." Klein pointed to them in the order he saw them "I grabbed them like you asked.".

Before he could continue a booming voice called out "What's all this about Kirito?" as they turned to see a walking tower of a man who had a two handed axe on his back standing next to a short girl with brown eyes and curly auburn hair who was looking around nervously.

"Guys meet Agil and Argo," he said before introducing everyone else "they were friends of mine from the Beta.".

"I'm surprised you haven't run off to go solo yet Ki-buo." Argo said with a raised eyebrow "I expected you to want to go by yourself to not be slowed down so you could get strong enough to survive.".

Sighing he ran a hand through his hair as he looked around "If it wasn't for a certain…situation I might have done that." He said as Argo raised an eyebrow but Agil gasped in shock.

"You beat the tower, didn't you?" the giant asked amazed.

"Yeah, he said as he displayed his level to the group who gaped at him "I'm already a level twenty seven…training isn't going to do much on this floor and I'll be damned if I let my friends die here." He growled. If he hadn't been a higher level he might've run off with Klein to get stronger, maybe left if Klein insisted on going back for his friends, but he was already strong enough to solo the first floor boss, hell maybe the first couple bosses…he couldn't just abandon them…he had to get back to his Aun-, no, his _mother _as well as his baby sister…but they had family too.

"So what's the play Ninja Boy?" a shaky Sinon asked, nervously playing with her now brown hair.

"Most players won't start a guild until the third floor when it becomes free but I know a guy who can set us up with a guild now," he said seriously "we can get ahead of the curve as guilds have advantages over parties with how stats, col, and items are divided….added to that I have an idea that could save several lives.".

"What's that?" Argo asked confused.

"Not everyone in this game is cut out for fighting," he said simply "you for example Argo as while you can fight you prefer to gather and sell information.".

"What's your point?" one of Klein's friends, Dale, asked in confusion.

"There are other things they can do to help us," he said seriously "there are probably a few hundred children here too young to fight as well as many others who are just too scared or too unskilled to actually go onto the front lines to clear this damned game. So we bring them to our guild as they can master other skills. We'll need bases and housing so some can raise their construction skill, we need clothing, armor, and weapons so others can become tailors or smiths. We need healers and cooks as well. Then there are the children that are too young to actually fight, they can travel with groups through west field and other places to help carry loot out or gather rocks and have a teleport crystal when they get a full load to come back.".

Everyone was wide eyed at what he was suggesting "That would make us a power house of a guild early on," Argo said shocked "with me gathering info for the guild, and selling what we don't need for profit, as well as Agil bartering to make more money and you guys leading our fighters…".

"We're the best chance of clearing this game," he said seriously "so…are you guys in?".

"Like you even needed to ask?" Klein said with a grin.

"If you're leading us…then I'm with you." Sinon said with a nod as Agil and Argo threw in their support followed by Klein's friends.

"Alright guys," he said grinning "it looks like our guild is formed…now what are we going to call it?".

"Well we're going to be protecting our players and other innocents which will probably lead to us having to stop any PK players that eventually show and enforcing the peace…so how about 'The Enforcers' Agil asked which got enthusiastic nods from Klein and his friends while Sinon and Argo sighed and muttered 'boys' under their breath.

Shaking his head in amusement he drew his sword and held it skyward "The Enforcers it is!" he cheered before gazing at the large tower that signified what he thought to be the entrance to the next level "Now let's get to work…we have a lot of work to do and a lot of lives to save".

**AN: I was originally going to have Kirito try to calm the masses after Kayaba made his speech but I figured it would be way too out of character. I was able to pull of Kirito making the guild as it was as before he only ran off by himself because he wanted to get stronger to survive…when now he basically dwarfs the boss so I tossed that idea out. **


	3. Chapter 3

The Enforcers

Chapter 3

-Kirito-

"Alright," he said as the guild walked back into the city which was still somewhat empty as most people were still panicking in the courtyard "Klein. You and your friends are to go around to different areas to stop people from jumping, tell them that there is a way they can help beat this game without having to fight. Sinon, I want you to go and begin finding children in the game who don't have parents with them. Agil, see if you can find an empty shop that can be rented or purchased and if it's affordable buy it, keep an eye out for any other aspiring merchants as well. Argo, you're to do the same with information brokers and I want you wandering the city, raising your hiding, listening, and detection skills to collect information. I'll go to the NPC and trade the item drops I got as well as my gold to get our guild started.".

"What drawbacks are there to starting a guild now rather than at floor five like most people do?" Agil asked as Klein, Klein's friends, and Sinon took off running.

"At floor five it's free but if you do it here you have to offer up gold and item drops as payment." He explained "But by starting a guild now and getting the amount of recruits I'm hoping for it will help us a great deal in the long run.".

"What do you mean?" the giant of a man asked as they made their way over to the NPC to start the guild, Argo having slipped away during his explanation.

"Every time someone in a guild levels up a skill, earns experience, or levels up the other members get an experience bonus. With non-combat members constantly grinding the other skills it will help us gain combat points while we continue to train and fight.".

"You do realize that a lot of the other players aren't going to like this right?" Agil asked with a raised eyebrow "There will probably be a lot of Beta's that join the guild and once people realize what you're doing they'll be angry, mainly at having not thought of it first, and will label it cheating.".

"Then that's their problem," he growled "my job is to save as many of the players as I can, not to pander to the whims and wishes of a bunch of short minded, egotistical, spineless little wretches who don't give a shit about anything other than themselves and their own power.".

Argo gave a low whistle at his rant "That was quite an impressive tirade.".

"Yeah, yeah I know big words," he grumbled, still feeling irritated at the thought of the idiots he would have to deal with soon enough "I'll meet up with you and the others later after I get the guild started. We'll set up the system as for who is in charge of what and what sort authority everyone has in the guild.".

"Good luck Kirito." Agil said with a nod before the giant took off in a jog down the cobblestone path.

Sighing he walked down the small dingy looking side alley that led into the black market district of the starting town. This was a secret that most people didn't know about, not even Argo, and those that did know about it did their best to avoid the backlash that would result from intimately knowing the black market district. The moment he passed a certain point he saw the notice flash in front of him that he was leaving the safe zone of the city and entering into an area that allowed PKing and tapped the screen to remove the it. The black market was for the thief class characters as well as PK Guilds where they could fence stolen goods as well as buy them, get stolen goods cleared for a price so they wouldn't register as such, could buy equipment for thefts and assassinations, as well as pay for services that are hard to come by. The problem was that this place allowed PKing so nobody was actually 'safe' in it and even had a few NPC characters that would occasionally try to kill and loot players so anyone who entered had to be constantly on their guard, especially with the new rules Kayaba set up.

Lucky for him he managed to avoid getting accosted by any murderous NPCs before getting to the bar he knew held the man who could start his new guild as he entered. It took a while to go through the process but by the time it finished he was officially the leader of 'The Enforcers'.

Groaning he exited the bar and began to make his way out of the black market district, still wary. He thought he would manage to get out without being attacked but when the exit was only a few feet away he caught movement out of the corner of his eye and leapt backwards, drawing his sword as he did so when he saw an NPC stab the air where he had just been. Snarling he pulled out his throwing knives and launched the blades, three of the five managing to hit but he saw they only did a small portion of damage making him curse. Another problem with these black market districts was that the NPC attackers could vary from the lowest levels to stronger than a boss. Admittedly the higher level opponents were rare on this low of a floor but with his luck it probably wasn't that surprising.

Kicking off with his sprint ability he got to the side of the NPC and swung his sword at their side, dealing a decent amount of damage and causing its armor to begin weakening. Ducking under the NPC's slash at his throat he lunged forward and stabbed it through the heart causing it to shatter into several blue shards of light and data while a small screen popped up in front of him. Sprinting he crossed the threshold back into the safe zone he checked what he got and saw a cloak that would increase the rate in which a person would level their detection, hiding, and listening skills which he decided to give to Argo as well as a decent quality dagger, some senbon which he would give to Sinon, and an impressive selection of Poisons.

Shaking his head he sent messages to his friends that he had the guild started and that when they were ready to meet him in the fields. Quickly he made his way back to where he had talked with everyone before when they decided to form the guild. As he waited he began setting up different traps catching several boars which he then killed with his sword. After an hour and a half of doing this he saw movement in the distance which quickly turned into Argo and three other players. "They part of your section of the guild Argo?" he asked when they got close enough which got a nod from his information broker.

"Any word from the others yet?" Argo asked as the other players eyed him warily.

"Not yet," he said shaking his head as he sent the four guild invitations which they quickly accepted "but Klein, his friends, and Sinon do have a major job right now while Agil can be more than a little picky when selecting his shop locations.".

"Fair enough," Argo said with a shrug "I've already given these three the layout of what our guild does and they agree to help, even sent their little siblings who're players as well over to Sinon. Once we get enough main warrior players in the guild we're all going to split op with each of us going with another group to try and collect information from as many places as we can.".

"Good plan Argo," he saw with a nod before opening his inventory and sending her the cloak he got in the drop "I know we agreed to sort out the officer system for our guild later but each 'faction' in the guild such as the frontliners, the merchants, information brokers, and others will have a player leading them. You're in charge of the info brokers and I think this might help with that.".

Raising an eyebrow Argo opened the menu screen that showed she had been given an eyebrow before her eyes shot into her hairline as she squeed and jumped up, hugging him excitedly. "I'm guessing you like it?" he asked with chuckle as Argo let out an 'eep' and leapt off him, blushing a bright red while the three new guild members chuckled in amusement.

Suddenly he heard a ding and noticed he had a new message which he opened to see it was from Argo who had found a location but didn't have the gold to pay for it. Turning to Argo and the others he said "Alright. Agil found a shop location but doesn't' have the gold to buy the property yet so we're going to be killing as many creatures as possible to get drops and gold to sell. I already sent Agil, Klein, and the others guild invitations which were accepted so the moment we get a drop we're to put it into the guild group storage so Agil can sell it, level up his bartering ability, and then purchase the store property. We'll set up the rules for gold drops later.".

"Right!" the four of him declared in unison as they all sped off, spending the next several hours killing as many of the boars and wolves that they could find. After a while Klein and his friends sent him messages about players who agreed to join and several of them were wanting to be combat faction members and joined them in their work. It took seven straight hours of grinding for them to get enough of the relatively cheap drops to buy the property Agil had selected, which turned out to be the best one in the city, before they all went to it and they were shocked to see that it as a multi floored building that had a massive shop on the ground floor and several rooms on the upper floors which could be used by the guild or rented out to other players.

"Alright," he said as everyone began shuffling inside "we'll rest tonight. I'm sure word has spread about what we're doing to those who are trying to jump so we'll have people manning the jump points in shifts. We'll also try to find a person to continue Sinon's job and look after the children so our favorite sniper can rejoin us in combat. For now get some sleep, we're all going to need it.".


	4. Chapter 4

The Enforcers

Chapter 4

-Kirito-

Groaning he climbed out of the bed he was in and walked down to the second floor of the building which housed a kitchen and living room, all the floors above that having bedrooms apart from the top floor which was a boardroom and offices of the twenty story building which dwarfed every other building in the town. Walking down he saw Sinon and Klein sitting at the table while Agil and Argo moved around the kitchen, probably trying to cook something without burning it. "Having fun?" he asked with a sarcastic grin making the four jump at his voice. "Oh come on," he said with a roll of his eyes "is my voice really that scary?".

"Don't be a smart ass ninja boy!" Sinon scolded him as she clutched her chest, probably trying to slow her virtual heartbeat.

"Yeah, yeah Hawkeye," he said with a chuckle before he snapped his fingers as he remembered something "that reminds me. I got you something when I was coming back from my hunting trip last night." As he talked he opened up an item transfer menu and sent it over to her as she opened it confused.

"What is it?" she asked in confusion as a small cube materialized in her hand.

"Hair Dye," he said with a shrug "I remembered how upset you seemed when your character lost the blue hair you chose and so I bought one of the cubes a vendor sells that allows you to change your character's hair color. It's the only avatar alteration item left in the game that can be bought and I got several more should any other members of the guild wish to do the same.".

"Thanks Kirito," Sinon said shakily as she pushed the button on the cube and selected the hair color she wanted, returning it to what it had been before "it…it means a lot to me.".

Sighing he walked over and pulled her into a hug causing her to stiffen before he whispered softly "It's alright Sinon. I may not know why but I can tell that having that hair color, or maybe just not having your natural color, meant a lot to you. I'm not going to pry but if you ever want to talk I'm here for you. I'd say Klein is too but I doubt you want him being a pervert while giving you advice.".

As he spoke Sinon returned his embrace and gave a weak chuckle at the end before he noticed Klein giving them a grin and raising a cup jokingly in their direction causing Sinon to snort and throw a pebble at his head causing the red haired swordsman to yelp and fall of his seat to dodge it. "Oi!" their ginger friend scowled "Not cool Hawkeye!".

Before either of them could respond Agil burst out laughing and picked them both up in a bear hug while Argo started laughing "It's about time you found someone who could bring you out of your shell Kirito!" Agil said laughing while he and Sinon struggled to try and escape the giant man's grip.

"I don't have a shell!" he protested while Argo and Agil gave him a deadpan 'really' stare.

"You barely became friends with us and that was only because we forced you to through sheer stubbornness," Argo said with a roll of her eyes "you avoid people with a fervor I've never seen before. I'm still trying to warp my mind around the fact that it was you that decided to start this guild. I mean, I've seen you work well before with one or two people but an entire guild that you _designed_ to be massive? Not exactly your normal behavior.".

Sighing he went limp in Agil's arms as his giant friend quickly set him and Sinon down before he took a seat, "If it hadn't been for the fact that I completed the tower I might have run off to go solo." He admitted "But…well I saw something that got me thinking, about lives lost and family left behind, how those who die will never see those they love in the real world again, and how if I didn't do whatever I could to save them then how could I face those waiting for me on the outside? I'm already the game's strongest player…now I have to make sure everyone else is strong enough to survive this death game.".

"What did you see?" Argo asked confused causing a spike of rage to shoot through him once again.

Slamming his fist down onto the table he growled out "The screens Kayaba showed us yesterday…the ones covering the news footage from around the world…the last one showed my house with my mother and sister sobbing outside as they learned about what happened to me.", his friends' eyes widened at that as they realized why he was so furious.

"Don't worry Kirito," Klein said seriously, an expression that seemed unnatural on his happy go lucky friend's face, "we'll make sure you get back to your family, that's a promise.", a sentiment quickly shared by the others.

"Thanks guys," he said sincerely "it means a lot to me.".

"Now I think we should take the time to plan out how the guild is going to be run," Argo said as they all sat down at the table "you have any plans Kirito?".

Nodding he pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill, a surprising item he found in the game, and began writing down his outline "I've come up with eleven different 'factions' for the guild and each faction is going to have a leader who will sit on a 'council' of sorts and make the big decisions that affect the entire guild, if it's a smaller decision that focuses on your section you don't have to bring it up with the council but if we feel that you aren't acting in the guild's best interest we can put in a vote of no confidence against a council member.".

"What are the factions and who's heading what?" Klein asked, the red head leaning back in his seat.

"The factions are the merchants, the info brokers, the ranged support class, frontline fighters, scouts, the medic group, the construction group, the blacksmiths, the recreational group, the beast tamers, and the infiltration division." He explained before taking a deep breath and continuing "Agil, you'll be heading the Merchants, your job is to have as many show owners as possible to buy gear for the guild as well as sell what we don't need to bring in profits for us. You'll also have players in the group who go around to NPC stores and stores run by players outside the guild to get a feel on their prices and possibly get other good items.".

"Got it." The giant of a man said with a nod while he altered the guild information through a menu only he had access to go create the different 'factions' and begin putting in leaders for some of them.

"Argo," he continued "as I told you yesterday you'll be heading the info brokers. Some of your group are going to stick to various cities to find information as well as sell it but others are going to join hunting, scouting, and raiding parties to gather info directly.".

"Got it Ki-buo," Argo said with a determined nod "you can count on us.".

"I know I can." He said with a nod causing his smaller friend to grin. "Sinon, you'll be the commander of our ranged support," he continued "sticking to things like senbon and throwing knives for now but I heard a rumor that if you level up that skill high enough then you can upgrade it into an archery skill which, if true, will be a major benefit to us.".

"It's true," Argo confirmed "I met a guy in the beta who spent his entire time leveling up his thrown weapon until he got that skill, it took him getting that skill to three hundred points though and then he had to go on a quest to unlock the skill and get blue prints to make arrows and bows.".

"Do you know where to start the quest?" he asked his lead info broker who nodded causing him to grin "Good, that's going to be a major help later on. Also see if he's actually trapped here with us and, if he is, offer him a slot in the guild. He'd be a good member of our ranged support should he wish to join.".

"I'm going to need a lot of pebbles." Sinon said with a snicker causing him to grin.

"I got a nice big bag of em for ya yesterday Hawkeye," he assured her with a grin before he went back to being serious "I'll be leading the frontline fighters myself. We'll make up the bulk of the raiding parties and we'll also have at least one member with any group that goes on a group quest or dangerous mission.".

"Makes sense," Argo said with a nod "you'll be the ones most trained for heavy combat so we'll need you all along, it would probably be best to have at least one ranged support as well.".

"Probably," he agreed "next are the scouts. Klein will be leading them and their job is to discover new dungeons, quests, cities, and other important locations, both those set up by NPS's and by other players. I chose you because you already have your friends and can make a decent scouting party.".

"Makes sense," Klein said with a nod "but I'll need a map of each floor, preferably one that will self-update as we explore.".

"I know where to get em." Agil spoke up before grinning "You get me the green, and I'll act as a go between.".

There was total silence for several seconds before Sinon slapped a hand to her face "Please," she pleaded with their friendly giant "never try to rap again." Which caused Agil to pout and mutter about 'people trying to smother genius'.

Shaking his head he continued "Moving on, the next group are the medics and I don't have anyone in mind to lead them yet. While this game doesn't have any healing spell there are healing crystals so the medics will have to areas. The hospital medics where we'll teleport someone whose been cursed, received major damage, or gotten an in game disease and they'll treat them slower to make sure the problem is completely gone as well as battle field medics whose job is to rush in and either heal you where you lay or to drag you somewhere safe. It will also have the people who make the potions and crystals in that faction.".

"Definitely important," Agil said with a serious nod, the giant forgetting his pouting for a moment "they would have to put in a lot of points to speed and dexterity to get in and out without getting hurt by monsters or PKers.".

"Exactly," he said with a nod before he went on to the next group "next is the construction group. These are the people who will maintain our properties as well as build new ones when we acquire a large amount of land. There are certain places in certain floors where you can by empty land and I intend to do so that we can have those players build a large headquarters that can hold most of the members and still be defensible.".

"I'm guessing these are going to be the bulk of our noncombatants?" Sinon asked to which he nodded.

"The Blacksmiths I also don't have anyone in mind for but I think their purpose is mostly self-explanatory, they will be the ones fixing our gear as well as making new equipment but it will have both blacksmiths for armor and weapons as well as tailors for cloth based clothes. They'll also give the items they don't give to the guild to Agil and his group to sell and get more col for the guild.".

"I'll keep an eye out for any good blacksmith players." Argo promised while Agil began muttering about price variations under his breath.

"The recreational group is going to be mostly the children and some other noncombatants who simply didn't want to be construction," he continued "they will have jobs like cooking, fishing, farming, playing an instrument, painting, and other simple skills that can still be leveled and will make the rest of our lives easier. I know I would feel better raiding a dungeon if I had a nice tasty meal to eat while doing so.".

"Good point," Klein said with a serious nod "moral among the guild and players is going to be a big issue and this sounds like a good way to help that.".

"The beast tamers are an…interesting class I came across during the beta," he continued "on the seventh floor there is a grand library which has a lot of books, giving hints about quests and unlockable skills as well as dungeon maps and other items if you know how to look through it. One of the books I read in it was about a rare class of player known as a beast tamer who had the ability to find a monster and try to 'tame' them where the creature would become their familiar. It worked better when the monster in question was low on health or has a status condition as well as if your own level was higher…personally I think Kayaba was playing too much Pokémon.". As he finished his friends gave a loud snort at the thought of the bastard who trapped them in the game hunched over a DS and trying to train a Pikachu. "This skill is one that randomly pops up in players once they reach level seven," he continued "it's determined from the moment they make their avatar if they have the skill or not but it won't show up until that level when it will show up in their skill listings. Even rarer are those who have the ability to tame dragons as their familiars.".

"That's a powerful ability," Argo said in shock "if we actually get some good tamers, let alone dragon tamers, we'll be almost unstoppable.".

"Nobody is unstoppable Argo," he chastised "if we think like that then we'll get overconfident and that will lead us to ruin. Now, the last group is infiltration and they will be the smallest faction. Their job is to infiltrate PK bases and areas to try and find information on them and get out alive so we can either arrest or…remove them if need be. They will be the smallest as they will be, hopefully, the least needed group and I'm only accepting those who volunteer for that division.".

"I hate to say it but it is a good idea and is probably going to be needed," Klein said morosely "we know that eventually a PK guild is going to pop up, probably more than one, and we're going to have to do everything in our power to put them down if we have to. Whether that means finding a way to lock them up or…removing them." Klein finished with a shaky gulp.

"Let's change the subject," he said quickly, not wanting to stay on the depressing topic "we still need to plan and get to work. Klein, did you or your friends find anyone who could continue your jobs as well as Sinon's so you lot can get out there and get going?". And so they dove back to work, but in the back of their minds, they wondered…what would they have to do to keep themselves and their guild safe.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: A little note, the pairing for this story is not as of yet decided so for those who are happy about Kirito/Sinon or upset it isn't the pairing they want then don't get too far into that. The pairing will be either Kirito/Sinon, Kirito/Asuna, or Kirito/Argo and later on in the story I'll put a poll up for it (when it gets to the decision point I have planned) but each have their own reasons and also it won't be a multi pairing, only Kirito and one girl.**

**AN2: I have a poll up on my profile about my story 'The REAL Guardian of the Hunt' which will be up for another three days.**

The Enforcers

Chapter 5

-Kirito-

Just as the group was about to get up from the table and continue their jobs in the guild he realized something and almost slapped himself for his stupidity before pulling up his guild control screen and quickly made an important change. "What the," Klein said in surprise as he checked the guild screen "why'd you remove the 'infiltration division' group?".

"There's not really a point of having a secret stealth infiltration group if people know about it," he said sheepishly "if, say, one of the little kids told someone in excitement and word spread then the division would be up shit creek without a paddle. Instead I'm going to have them be a secret, unofficial, part of the guild that we recruit from when we see someone with the appropriate skills.".

"But now we need a new guild group to take their place so the council doesn't have a deadlock," Agil spoke up, "what's going to fill it?".

"What about a group specifically designed to do quests?" Sinon asked causing them to turn to her "Have units made of an assortment of skills to keep it balanced, always making sure to have at least one Frontal Assault member with them, and send them out to do as many quests as possible. They get gold, items, and experience from doing quests and thanks to the guild system the gold will go to the joint coffers to be used as needed, the experience is theirs while everyone else gets a nice little bump, and with the items they can send it back and the reward weapons and armor can be distributed as needed. The only exceptions would be unique skill quests like the unarmed combat skill and the archery skill.".

"Damn," Agil said with a whistle "beautiful and brainy. I can see why you like her Kirito." Causing him to blush, Sinon to squawk in embarrassment, and Argo to glare at Agil much to his confusion.

"Anyway," Klein spoke up "I'm going to go select some more people to cover the suicide spots in shifts to stop people and work on recruitment. After that I'll head out with the rest of my crew and we'll begin our duty as the scouting unit.".

"Stay safe man," he said seriously "there's more than just monsters out there.".

"I know bro," Klein assured him before turning to Sinon "you watch out for him, alright Hawkeye?".

"You got it Pervert," Sinon said with a small smile as she gave their friend a hug "just be sure to take care of yourself.".

"Will do guys." Klein promised before giving a joking two finger salute and strode to wake up the rest of his party.

"Agil," he said turning to their guild's giant who stood straighter at being mentioned "I need you to man your shop after finding other merchant members in our new recruits. You're also to go and find other shop locations for them and to keep an eye out for unbuilt blots of land so that the construction unit can begin building a base for us to use.".

"On it boss." Agil said with a nod before heading up to go meet the new recruits.

"Argo," he said turning to their info broker "I want you to find out how many info broker recruits we have and then send them to our new frontal assault groups so they can pick a unit to join. We do need our brokers alive after all so travelling with the combat groups will be beneficial. Sinon, I want you to do the same with the ranged supporters.".

"And after that?" Sinon asked, leaning against the wall as she raised an eyebrow at him.

"You both will be travelling with me," he said causing them to blink in surprise "we'll be training to get stronger and doing what we can to make sure we're powerful enough to protect those who serve under us.".

"Right!" the two girls said firmly before taking off up the stairs causing him to laugh softly at their exuberance before he slowly walked outside, gazing at the steady sunrise that the virtual world generated, wondering what the future held in store for them.

-One month later-

Sighing, he walked into Tolbana town along with Argo and Sinon, mentally drained from the long boring walk they went through, having left most of the monsters for Sinon and Argo to fight so they could raise their own levels, his already being high enough for now. Since the game began and he had started the guild he had managed to find recruits and even leaders for every guild except for the medic corp.

The construction group was led by a player who went by the name of Tazuna and was an actual construction worker in real life so he know how to run a construction crew. They had managed to make a few small bases so far but their levels weren't high enough to build any truly impressive forts yet.

The Blacksmithing group was led by a pink haired blacksmith by the name of Lizbeth who they found trying to start a blacksmithing shop with a group of friends on the first floor. They were more than eager to join up at the thought of having money backing them and people that would actually use their weapons.

The recreational group was led by a brunette woman named Sasha who they found had been collecting the children at the same time they were and the woman was thrilled by their idea for the guild, happily joining up along with the children who were glad to be useful. With all of the kids, and other noncombatants, constantly doing various things like painting, playing music, and cooking the guild was constantly receiving experience bonuses.

The beast tamers were led by a dragon tamer named Silica who, while young, was definitely stubborn enough to manage the job. She refused to be in the recreational group and trained every chance she got to become strong and tried not to rely overly much on her dragon Pina.

The Quest Completion group, known as the Rare Hunters, was led by a player named Keita who had actually originally approached him to ask how to start a guild of his own. They had talked and he offered Keita the position of leader of the Hunters along with the group of friends Keita had with him as members of the guild and, after a couple days of thinking, they had accepted.

The only problem was the medical unit though. They had managed to find several recruits for the unit but none of them wanted the position of leader of the unit or simply didn't have the necessary skills to handle it. That was part of the reason they were in the town they were in today, they had heard about an incredibly fast player who was coming to this town for the meeting about the floor boss which was the second reason they had arrived.

As they walked into town he made sure that their guild icon was hidden to avoid attention as, along with their own, a few other guilds had sprung up a couple weeks into the game but theirs was still the strongest. The second was a group called the Knights of the Blood Oath which was started by a player called Heathcliff, after them was a group called the Holy Dragon Alliance started by a player named Draco, and finally was a PK guild called Laughing coffin who already had racked up twenty murders, nobody knew who started that one. Five hundred and eighty six players had died so far in the game, some of them were killed by laughing Coffin or solo PK players while others committed suicide before his group could reach them or were simply killed out in the wild by monsters. They did manage to save over a thousand players though, most of them joining the construction although a few did join the other parts of the guild.

-Theatre-

Standing at the top of the theatre he gazed down at the assortment of players, idly chatting amongst themselves as a blue haired player in the back talked with a few others. Finally though the man with the blue hair stepped forward and called out "Hello everybody, good to see you." causing them all to turn, curious at what would be said "I wanna thank everyone for coming, the name's Diabal and in this game, the job I roll is Knight!", finishing the statement by slamming a fist to his chest causing him to snort.

"Dude! There's no job system in this game!" one of the assembled players called out amongst the laughter as he realized that Diabal had only said that to ease up the tension.

"You guys want to hear this or not?" Diabal called out as they all settled down before Diabal's gaze hardened, "This morning, one of our scouting parties found the boss room at the top of the tower.". At those words shocked whispers met it causing him to want to slap his forehead, of course the stupid boss was at the top of the tower, where else would the damn thing be. "We need to do two things," Diabal continued, regaining his attention as well "first we have to defeat this boss and get to floor two. Second is that we have to let everyone in Town of Beginnings Know that this game _can _be beaten!".

"Dude there's hardly anyone left in the town of beginnings!" another player called out "They've all joined The Enforcers to do one of the non-combat jobs!".

"Whatever the case may be The Enforcers are only registered as the strongest guild due to their massive numbers!" Diabal called out, a note of anger in the man's voice causing him to raise an eyebrow "I've never met one of their guild members at any of the meetings or raiding parties to find the boss room so I doubt they have the kind of power needed for the job. The point is that as the most capable players, it's our duty to clear not only this boss but the rest of the bosses as well!".

At those words people began to applaud and whistle in excitement causing him to snort in derision at the man's obvious jealousy before he turned to Argo. "Argo," he said seriously, his top info broker turning to him, a furious scowl across her face at Diabal's words "I want you to go find that speed character we heard about, what was her name, Asuna? Whatever. Just find her and meet me and Sinon outside of town, tell her that she's being offered a trial to see if she's as fast as we've heard and if she is she's going to be offered the Council Seat. If she doesn't believe we're as powerful as we say we are just show here your stats and she'll come around.".

"On it Ki-Buo." Argo said with a nod before she leaned up and kissed his cheek, something she had taken to doing over the past month along with Sinon which confused him greatly while amusing Klein and Agil to the extreme.

"Come on Hawk-eye," he said with a snort, leading his friend outside of the city, "let's go set up camp outside the walls.".

An hour and a half later Argo walked back into camp along with a girl who was wearing a brown hooded cloak, "Are you the leader of The Enforcers?" the girl, Asuna, asked when she got close.

"I am," he said with a nod, standing up to his full height as Sinon copied him and Argo walked over by his side "and are you Asuna?".

"Yes, your…friend here said you'd heard of me and that you had an offer but nothing else.".

"I have heard that you are an incredibly fast player and that is something I desperately need in my guild for one of its units," he explained "my medical team is the only unit without a leader and if you're as fast as they say you'd be perfect for the role as you can actually do the job and still have the dedication to lead the unit on the Council. The fact that your fighting skills are said to be top notch as well is a good bonus in your favor. What I'm proposing is that you come with us and we give you an…audition of sorts. You join us on the mission we're about to undergo and if we're impressed then we'll let you into the guild as one of the council members should you wish.".

"But what about the boss raid?" Asuna asked in confusion.

Snorting he replied "That is the mission, but we won't be doing it their way. Most of them are level's ten and eleven, the highest is maybe thirteen. A good chunk of them will die in this raid if they went. We on the other hand will be doing this ourselves. Argo and Sinon are both level twenty one while I…am level thirty three.".

**AN: Before anyone complains about their levels let me point out something. I stated earlier that whenever a guild member completes a quest or gains a level then the rest of the guild gets bonus experience. Their guild has over a thousand members who range from doing things like cooking and other recreational things, to constantly training or doing quests so that's a lot of bonus experience to help them along.**


	6. Chapter 6

The Enforcers

Chapter 6

-Kirito-

"L-level thirty three?!" Asuna asked in shock "How the hell is your level so high already?".

"Well the girls here started out at level one like most of the players here in SAO," he explained "but by joining the guild they were able to level up faster. You see this is how it works, when a player in a guild completes a quest or gains a level, in either a skill or in actual level, then the rest of the players in the guild get some bonus experience points, the higher the level gained or quest completed the more experience.".

"I follow so far," Asuna answered hesitantly "but how would your levels be so high? You still haven't explained that.".

"Well for the girls they did their own training to a great extent to get high levels and added to the fact that my guild has over a thousand members…that's a lot of bonus experience." He answered with a shrug while Asuna shivered, likely at the thought of how powerful they could be. "And as for my level," he continued calmly "unlike the rest of the players here I started out as level twenty two due to a quest I completed during the BETA.".

"T-twenty two?!" Asuna asked in shock "Why would Kayaba allow a player to start out that powerful if he wanted to try and kill us in here?".

"I don't think he intended for any players to actually complete the quest," he answered thoughtfully "you were only able to try the quest once and only seven others besides myself made it to the final level of the quest and even then, I was the only one to actually beat it, albeit barely. And I also don't think it was to necessarily 'kill us', more like he wanted to play God and have a world where he could do whatever the hell he wanted with anyone he wanted.".

"Anyway," Argo interrupted "are you willing to take part in our 'test' for initiation into the guild? You can still join without the test but this is to simply see if you have what it takes to be the leader of the division we have in mind for you.".

"I-I'll do it," Asuna said with a sigh "I thought I could beat this game solo but if the levels you guys show are anything to go by…I'll get stronger faster by going with you.".

Nodding he turned to Argo, "Did you get the data?" he asked, knowing that guys like Diabal wouldn't willingly share data with the leader of the enforcers.

"Yeah," Argo said with a grin as she tapped a couple buttons on her menu, sending the map data to him and Sinon that showed the route to the boss "he sent it out as a mass message to everyone at the arena and didn't think that there might be eavesdroppers there to listen in on him.".

"Jealousy can cloud even the brightest minds," he said with a nod "was there anything else that I should know about?".

"Some little pest called 'Kibaou'," Argo said with a snort "he believed that all beta testers were scum that should give up every item they have to him and other players along with their cash for 'abandoning the newbies'. Somebody actually pointed out how our guild was saving people including newbies but the brat just brushed it off, saying that we were either BETA testers that wanted a personal army or were non-betas that were proof that BETA's were evil.".

"Sounds like a stubborn little Nat," he said with a snort "probably not anything to bother worrying about though. Let's go over the plan for how we fight the boss.".

"Illfang the Kobold Lord," Argo said with a nod as they all got settled, "I remember him from the beta. He's a giant demonic red rat that carries around an axe and a buckler but when he gets low on health he switches to using a talwar but who knows what's been changed since the BETA.".

"Good point," he said with a nod "several hunting spots we went to were full of game during the BETA but barren now and areas that should have been empty had mini-bosses in them so we have to keep an open mind about this.".

"If he sticks to the tactics he used during the BETA he'll have three 'rat knight' minions that we'll have to deal with as well along with him so we have to plan that out and be ready to deal with them in case they respawn." Argo informed him, the girl going through her notes she had made about what she remembered from the BETA which had been improved upon by other BETA's in the guild.

"So how many of your guild members are going to be coming with us?" Asuna asked warily, the girl probably getting nervous for the first major battle in the game.

"None," he said shaking his head while Asuna gaped at him in shock "I'll be soloing the boss while you and Argo guard Sinon will be offering ranged support to increase her 'thrown weapons' skill.". Seeing her panicked expression he continued "Calm down Asuna, you've seen our level and you know that Argo and I were BETA's, we've fought this guy and stronger bosses before so we won't have much problems beating this asshole.".

Pointing out their levels seemed to calm the girl down as she took in a deep breath and nodded, "Alright," she said firmly "when do we head out?".

"We're planning to head to the boss room now," he explained "set up camp for a little bit in front of the door to get our breath back and then take down the asshole and head onto floor two. I'll be sending out a guild message before we enter the boss room so that the rest of the guild will know that we can soon enter floor two and be prepared to begin getting the best buildings for shops and bases and the like.".

"You guys don't do anything half-assed, do you?" Asuna asked with a raised eyebrow as they systematically took down the campsite.

"We're in a death game Asuna," he said seriously "half-assed just isn't gonna cut it.".

-Outside the boss room-

Sending a quick message to the rest of the guild he turned to Asuna, Sinon, and Argo "You guys ready?" he asked seriously, getting firm nods from the trio causing him to grin in turn "Then make sure your skills are ready and let's kill this bastard.". Turning he pushed open the double doors of the boss room as they slowly parted open, revealing the red demonic boss sitting on the throne at the far end, eyes gleaming a sickening blood red.

Snarling he reached behind him and drew his two swords, ignoring the shocked gasp from Asuna, as he held them in a ready position. The first was his 'queen's Knightsword' while the second was a unique weapon known as 'Bloodfang' that Lizbeth had forged for him after joining the guild. With a roar Illfang leapt from his throne and onto the floor of the large hall, three 'ruined kobold sentinels' appearing in a burst of light before the three minions charged forward.

Giving a savage grin he shot forward, slashing at the two sentinels on the side and using his shoulder to knock the middle one into the air as he made straight for the boss, trusting Sinon to pick off the weaker minions while Asuna and Argo would get them if they got too close to her.

As he continued to charge at Illfang, said boss charging to meet him as well, he heard the faint telltale sounds of shattering pixels as the minions were destroyed, hearing what sounded more like a sword 'sword skill' than that of a throwing weapon letting him think Argo and Sinon decided to let Asuna give a little demonstration for them.

Getting to Illfang he smirked and twirled his swords around "Let's dance fat ass," he said with a smirk as he shot forward and went to work, bobbing and weaving as he moved about Illfang's attacks, striking the boss where he could while also noting Sinon's senbon and throwing knives dealing damage of their own. He decided it had gotten rather boring as he moved about the boss's attacks with ease, occasionally blocking the strikes to stagger the beast before dealing a blow of his own.

Soon enough the boss' last HP bar dropped into the red as it threw the axe and buckler into the air and drew a nodachi instead of the talwar they had been expecting. "It looks like you were right Sinon," he said calmly as the boss shot to the ceiling and bounced around the pillars at what would have been high speeds but with his detection skill he could easily keep up "they did change him up from the BETA. With a Nodachi instead of a Talwar his attack patterns could be completely different." Before bringing his own swords up in an X to block the overhead strike of the Boss dead in its tracks. "Not bad," he told the beast with a smirk "I almost felt that." Before forcing it back with a thrust of his blades.

Yelling out a battle cry he leapt forward, using the beast's lack of balance to land as many blows as possible as he used the sword skill 'starburst stream' to get in the biggest multi-hit combo he could manage before, with a final slash, Illfang was launched into the air before exploding into a burst of light.

All was silent for a moment before the girls began cheering loudly as they ran up to him happily causing him to laugh and pick up Argo and Sinon in a hug, giving a grateful nod to Asuna who blushed under the praise. A beeping noise brought his attention to a screen informing him he had received the last attack bonus causing him to grin and open it, seeing that it was an item called the 'coat of midnight' which raised the user's hiding skill.

"Here Argo," he said sending her the coat "you already have the cloak I gave you before but maybe one of the members of your division in the guild can use this.".

"Thanks Ki-buo," Argo said as she kissed his cheek "now come on. Let's get going to the new floor, Agil's probably already there waiting for us.". Chuckling he nodded and set the girls down before turning to Asuna and smiling before sending her the guild invite.

"Welcome to The Enforcers Councilwoman Asuna." He said with a grin while Argo and Sinon cheered "When we get to the first pub or restaurant in the new floor I'm treating you three to a feast.", that declaration got even louder cheers from the happy trio of girls.

-Diabal-

-Next Day-

"Alright!" he said as he saw the doors up ahead "There's the boss room!".

"is it supposed to be open?" another player asked causing him to blink in surprise before noticing that the doors were slightly ajar and that there was no sign of Illfang on his throne like their scouts had reported before.

"What?!" he exclaimed, running forward to see a completely empty boss room, "Where's Illfang?!".

"I found a menu screen!" Kibaou called out causing him to turn and see his party member pointing to a menu screen by a column near the entrance "It says that somebody already beat the boss and this will let us see what happened.".

"Click it." He ordered, furious that somebody had beaten them to the punch after all the planning he and the others went through, as well as the loss of the last attack bonus. The moment Kibaou clicked it translucent images appeared in the room of four players entering, one of them somehow having two swords equipped.

"I recognize her!" one of the players that had just joined the Knights of the Blood Oath called out, pointing at the shortest of the three girls that they were seeing "She's one of the leaders of The Enforcers, the blue haired one as well. But they're supposed to be travelling with the guild's founder.".

"I guess that's the guy duel wielding…holy shit!" another player began only to yell out in shock when said swordsman charged forward and knocked the minions aside like flies before charging the boss.

"H-he's going toe to toe with a boss and fighting it on equal ground." He breathed in awe.

"No he's not," Heathcliff said walking up to stand next to him "that player is toying with the boss, you can see how bored he is with the boss' strength. If I'd have to wager a guess…I'd say he completed that quest that happened during the BETA, secret of the Dark Tower and started SAO with his level intact from before.".

"That guy's a BETA tester?!" Kibaou demanded angrily.

"I said I believe him to be," Heathcliff said negatively "I don't know for sure. What I do know is that that player is not only intelligent but powerful. Listen, you can hear him calmly discussing with those girls how they were right in assuming things had changed from the BETA due to Illfang having a different secondary weapon.".

"So what now?" a random player in the back asked.

"What do you think?!" another player said excitedly "The first floor's been cleared and The Enforcers are clearly powerful if this is anything to go by! Hell, I might just join up myself at this rate.". Hearing the other players discussing the merits of joining the apparent 'super guild' he ground his teeth in anger, the glory he would have had as the 'man who united Aincrad' being taken away from him bit by bit.


	7. Chapter 7

The Enforcers 7

Chapter 7

Grinning he entered the second floor 'starter town' and saw a steady stream of players leaving the teleportation gate, his guild having been told about the battle just before it began so they could get ready to teleport to the new floor. "There's so many players." Asuna said in awe as the newest councilwoman stared at all of the Enforcer members that were streaming out of the teleportation gate.

"Kirito!" a familiar voice called out as he looked over to see a grinning Klein walking over "Good to see you man! Listen, the other Council Members are situated at the tavern so we can begin to go over the plan for how to handle the new floor. I'm guessing this is our newest member?".

"Yeah." He said with a nod, "Asuna, meet Klein, he's the head of our Scouting Division. Klein, this is Asuna who's accepted the role of being the head of our Medic group.".

"Hi." Asuna said awkwardly at his confident Councilman…or she may have simply been somewhat blinded by Klein's bright ass red armor.

"Hi yourself," Klein said with a small wave "now come on. We need to get there soon if we don't want Tazuna to drink all the Sake…again.".

"Tazuna?" Asuna asked as Klein led them to a nearby building where he saw the rest of his Council sitting at a large table in the center, each of them with a meal and drink in front of them.

"This here is Tazuna," he said as he clapped the man on the shoulder "the head of our Construction division and the certified old drunk of the group.".

"Well someone has to do it so why not me?" Tazuna asked before taking a gulp from a large bottle of Sake with a contented sigh, "At least in here I can't get a hangover.".

"Moving on!" he said quickly as he walked over to the next person, "This here is Lizbeth, or as I like to call her, Lizzy. She's the head of our Blacksmith Division and made the red sword you saw me use in the boss fight. You tell her what kind of weapon you need and, if she has the materials, she can make you something that would put a boss drop to shame.".

"You say the sweetest things Kirito." Lizbeth said with a grin as the girl looked up from a journal where she was sketching out several new weapon designs, "Unfortunately for you I'm already taken.".

"I still have no idea how that happened," he said with a chuckle before turning to Asuna "she's dating Klein who's also our group's resident Pervert.".

"And proud of it!" the red armored man said with a grin, plopping himself down in the seat next to Lizbeth.

"Here we have Sasha," he said as he got to the woman who stood up to give him a warm hug "she's the head of the Recreational division and has become a mother figure for myself and most of the guild. Her food is simply to die for.".

"I'm honestly just glad that I can be helpful," Sasha admitted with a blush as the rest of his council who had tasted her food quickly supported his statement "and be able to look after the children trapped here.".

"Then we have Little Silica," he said as the little girl jumped up with a laugh and gave him a flying hug which he happily returned "she's become like a little sister to most of us and her dragon Pina is a major help when we need a quick healing out in the field. She's the head of our Tamer division and is a Dragon Tamer. We normally would have chosen someone a little older to be the Councilwoman but she was more than stubborn enough to get the job.".

"And don't you forget it Kirito!" Silica said with a wide grin "Honorary brother or not I can still sick Pina on you!". Laughing happily he ruffled her hair and shooed her back to her seat as Asuna, Sinon, and Argo giggled at the girl's statement.

"Finally we have Keita," he said as he got to the last of the Council members Asuna hadn't met yet "he's the leader of our quest completing group, the Rare Hunters. He originally came to me to ask how to start a guild of his own and, after explaining how, I offered to let him join the Enforcers and install him as a Councilman. He took a couple days to think about it but he was more than willing to try it out and his party, the Moonlit Black Cats, have been with us ever since.".

"And as you already know Ki-buo is the head of the Frontline Fighters, Sinon the ranged fighters, and I'm the head of the info brokers." Argo finished happily as he held out chairs for the girls.

"So what info do we have so far?" he asked as the mood became, slightly, more serious while the discussed business.

"Well this floor has several forests for harvesting as well as some quarries and other areas." Agil Klein explained, pressing a few buttons on a menu as they all got the information that was gathered "Argo's second in command went out with a few of my scouts as well as a couple of the speed specialists to scour different areas and found a lumber town and a quarry village very close to here. An NPC there told them about how there were several other Lumber mills and Quarries on this floor of Aincrad.".

"Are they purchasable?" he demanded as he glanced at Agil and Tazuna "If we managed to own even just one of each then we would have a great deal of extra resources for our construction crews, maybe even find some good metal ores for Lizzy and her minions.".

"Must you call them that?" 'Lizzy' asked in exasperation while he grinned widely, "Never mind." She sighed when she saw his grin.

"Anyway," he continued "there's a good chance that this floor is mostly lumber mills, quarries, and other resources but in each of those villages there's bound to be several useful quests so I want everyone to keep an eye out so we can get the materials and items we need.".

"So what now?" Asuna asked as everyone sent out a few messages to their Division members, the girl looking rather awkward as she wasn't sure what to do.

"Well later I'll introduce you to the rest of your division," he explained "that way you can get to know them and can begin working on improving the right skills to go with the build you already have. But in the meantime…WE FEAST!".

"Hazzah!" Klein, Agil, and Tazuna exclaimed happily as they went over to the waitress NPC and ordered a good deal of food and drink.

"You're…different than I was expecting." Asuna said awkwardly as the group returned to their laid back and rather happy go lucky atmosphere they had when he had first entered.

"You expected us to be all 'hard core' moody military bastards?" he asked with a raised eyebrow as Asuna blushed brightly and nodded.

"You should have seen him during the BETA," Argo laughed as his short friend leaned over and ruffled his hair like he was a kid "this guy was the moodiest loner you could ever meet. He only became friends with me and Agil because we forced him too out of sheer stubbornness. But he's got a good heart and refused to abandon the other players when he knew he could make a difference and save lives.".

"Spending as much time as he did with other people really helped to open him up," Sinon picked up as she leaned over and pecked his cheek before jerking her thumb over at Klein, Agil, and Tazuna who were still getting food "people like the three stooges over there especially.".

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled good naturedly "laugh it up Argo.". The rest of the night was spent with laughter and merriment as they celebrated the destruction of the first boss, several of their Guild Members taking initiative and, with permission, going out and purchasing the nearby lumber mill and Quarry and even began setting up a work schedule for the construction players.

The next morning though he found himself with the rest of his Council, once again at their 'meeting table' in the tavern. "Alright," he said as he looked about "I'm keeping Argo and Sinon with me but I'm also planning on keeping Asuna as well, at least until she fully learns the ropes of being a council member and then she can choose to either join a different party or stick with this one.".

"Three beautiful women all to yourself Kirito?" Asked with a suggestive smirk as the giant man wiggled his eyebrows, "Are you sure you don't have any…ulterior motives to this set up?".

"Do I look like Klein to you?" he shot back as his ginger friend let out an indignant 'Oi!' which was ignored "I don't do thing for perverted reasons. I can't really speak for Asuna but I know that if I did try to do so that Argo and Sinon would _definitely_ kill me.".

"We've trained you well," Argo said with a grin as she linked her arm with his left, Sinon doing the same on his right as they both smirked happily "I guess you can be taught.". The happy event was ended though when the tavern door burst open and he turned around to see the guy who had tried leading the boss raid which he had…usurped.

"You!" the blue haired man, Diabal if he remembered right, growled "What the hell is your problem?!".


End file.
